The Hallstatt culture was the first culture of peoples that can truly be considered “Celtic.” This period was preceded by the Central European Urnfield and Tumulus cultures of the late and middle European Bronze Age. Neither are commonly accepted as “Celtic” cultures, but rather, “pre-Celtic” cultures associated with a Proto-Celtic language family. As such, the Hallstatt culture represents an important time of transition for archeologists of the late Bronze Age and early Iron Age.
When Was the Hallstatt Period?
The term Hallstatt is used to describe the material culture of the later Bronze Age and earlier Iron Age across much of northern and western Europe. spanning from approximately 1200 BCE-450 BCE. At this time, the Celtic heartlands had experienced a migratory shift from Central Europe towards Switzerland and eastern France. The Celtic peoples incorporated into the Hallstatt culture lived primarily on the continent rather than further north in Britain and Ireland.
The name “Hallstatt” is derived from the lakeside village of Hallstatt, Austria, where there was a rich salt mine. Here, thousands of burials dating to the late Bronze Age were excavated in the second half of the 19th century. Consequently, Austria is thought to represent the cradle of Celtic civilization, and the finds from Hallstatt and the communities surrounding it showcase the earliest examples of distinctly “Celtic” material culture.
Who Were the Hallstatt Celts?
The Hallstatt culture was centered around Austria, but spread out further into two zones: an eastern zone encompassing Slovakia, western Hungary, western Romania, Croatia, Slovenia, Austria and the Czech Republic; and a western zone which included southern Germany, Switzerland, northern Italy, and eastern France. Definitive settlements of people of Hallstatt origin have been identified in France and the Low Countries dating from 500-450 BCE.
While the term “Hallstatt” predominantly refers to Celtic peoples living on the continent, there may have been traces of Celts of Hallstatt origin in the British Isles, particularly northeastern Scotland, as early as 600 BCE.
The Hallstatt culture, while operating primarily on a farm-based economy and not on an economy of military expansion, had established trade networks around the European continent.
Hallstatt communities lived in fortified hilltop settlements known as oppida, which continued to be the preferred settlement type in the following La Tène period. Settlement size was generally small, though some larger settlements, which could be classified as towns or villages, formed around major resource sites, like the salt mine in Hallstatt.
Archeological Evidence From the Hallstatt Period
Archeologists have managed to glean some information about the Hallstatt culture through some major finds. As discussed above, in the 1870s the excavation undertaken in Hallstatt by a team of archeologists from the Academy of Sciences in Vienna resulted in the discovery of a vast number of graves. These graves contained both cremated and interred remains, along with weaponry, armor, jewelry, pottery, and other objects. Many of these objects were decorated in an early Celtic “symmetrical” style, employing design motifs of the ancient Danubian tradition mixed with Greek and Etruscan artistic influences.
The excavation of graves such as these tells archeologists and historians much about the practices and customs of Hallstatt peoples, especially those of an elite social class. For example, that these graves contained both cremated and interred remains suggests that there could have been a shift in funerary custom at some point during the Hallstatt cultural period. The sheer number of burial goods, both for military use and leisure, suggest that the Hallstatt Celts believed in an afterlife, and that these objects were intended to be taken with the dead into it. Finally, the use of design motifs inspired by Greek and Etruscan styles indicated that the Hallstatt Celts were involved in trade.
The graves discovered at Hallstatt have not been associated with one settlement. Rather, it is assumed that there were multiple communities living in the lakeside village and surrounding area that the individuals came from. There is also a notable absence of “princely” burials, which were often found near large settlements. However, the specific type of objects found in the graves at Hallstatt indicated that the deceased buried within were of the upper class. Therefore, archeologists have proposed that these people were likely not miners, but from the class controlling the mines and, by extension, the salt trade.
There are a few rare examples of monumental stone sculpture from the Hallstatt culture that depict the human form. Emerging as early as the 6th century BCE, large sculptures depicting ithyphallic male figures have been found, such as a naked, torc-wearing Hallstatt warrior who once adorned the top of a burial mound at Ditzingen-Hirschlanden in Baden-Württemberg, Germany.
While depictions of women from both the Hallstatt and La Tène periods are extremely rare, it is interesting to note how Celtic depictions of the human form prized masculinity. Monumental Hallstatt sculptures of warriors, while rare and not necessarily striving for realism, were phallic and placed an emphasis on warrior culture. These sculptures indicate to archeologists that Hallstatt society was likely patriarchal, and that the elite and warrior classes were likely mixed.
Life and Leisure in the Hallstatt Culture
Little is known about everyday society in the Hallstatt cultural period, though archeologists have been able to glean some information about leisure for the upper echelon of early Celtic society. Elite graves, like those found near the salt mine in Hallstatt, were often furnished with things like jewelry and pottery.
Jewelry supports what later ancient Greek and Roman writers wrote of Celtic peoples: “They wear ornaments of gold, torques on their necks, and bracelets on their arms and wrists, while people of high rank wear dyed garments besprinkled with gold.” Though Strabo wrote this of later Celtic peoples, the archeological record supports that a propensity for adornment was integral to the Celtic elite for several centuries.
Pottery found in elite burials also indicates that goods like oils and wine were imported from around the Mediterranean region. These goods were likely used for celebratory and leisurely purposes at banquets and symposia, The fact that they were often included in elite burials indicates that an importance was placed on luxurious grave furnishings that the deceased could take with them into the afterlife.
As with many cultures, particularly those that did not leave behind many written records, like the Hallstatt culture, it is the story of the elite that is told through extant material culture. Typically, objects produced for the elite members of society were of higher quality, and more attention was paid to their preservation for the purpose of furnishing burials. There are, however, a few artifacts presumed to have belonged to the lower, mining class that have been found in the mines themselves. These artifacts include organic materials like textiles, wood, and leather, and abandoned objects like shoes, pieces of cloth, tools, and miner’s backpacks, which have survived in good condition, considering their age. The unique environment of the salt mines enabled the preservation of these objects, which likely would not have survived outside of the mines.
Trade and Cultural Exchange During the Hallstatt Period
The presence of imported goods in Hallstatt graves is material evidence of active trade with Mediterranean civilizations, especially with the Greek colony of Massalia, the Veneti of the northern Adriatic region, and the Etruscans in central and northern Italy. Objects found in graves and outside of them, otherwise lacking in context, included imported bronze and ceramic vases, coral, and luxury foodstuffs, which the early Celts may have in turn paid for with raw materials like gold, iron, and pelts, or with slaves.
That the Hallstatt culture was geographically focused in Central Europe was determined by economics. The salt mines at Salzkammergut in Hallstatt had mine shafts 400 meters deep, leading to a high mining production and the ability for the communities living in and around them to export salt all over the European continent. The salt mines were mined extensively, peaking from the 8th-5th centuries BCE. The salt trade, combined with Celtic control over trade routes along the River Danube, facilitated the development of a Celtic iron industry. Hallstatt iron plows, tools, and weapons gave them a technological advantage over the other barbarian tribes of Europe during the Late Bronze Age and Early Iron Age, which helped them thrive until the La Tène cultural shift.
Identity During the Hallstatt Period: Were They Celtic?
When it comes to Celtic peoples, identity is always a tricky question, largely because these communities never would have referred to themselves as “Celtic.” They would have likely referred to themselves by tribal names, such as the Iceni in Britain. Ancient Greek and Roman writers ascribed the label of “Celtic,” typically written as Keltoi, or Gallic to most of the barbarian communities that they encountered on the European continent. Therefore, it is best to think of the term “Celtic” as an umbrella term for a wide variety of peoples that were grouped together by similarities in language and customs. Identity is a shifting, dynamic aspect of people’s being, and consists only in relation to others. It could be said that what we understand of early Celtic identity is largely in relation to their Greek and Roman neighbors.
Based on what archeologists and historians have commonly come to accept as characteristics of “Celtic” culture, however, it is safe to say that the peoples living during the Hallstatt cultural period were indeed Celtic. They were referred to as such by ancient textual sources. Their society laid the groundwork for cultural advancements in the La Tène cultural period, and in many other ways they aligned with social and linguistic conventions attributed to historical Celtic peoples. While they may never have referred to themselves as Celtic, the peoples living in Hallstatt Europe were indeed early Celts.
